**4.7. Venezuela**

Yankee whalers visited the area of the Gulf of Paria, between Venezuela and Trinidad, between 1837 and 1871 but may also have visited other localities and at other times. They predominantly hunted humpbacks, but occasionally they would strike a sperm whale or a 'blackfish,' (*G*. *macrorhynchus*). Yankee whalers also visited other coastal areas in eastern Venezuela. Since data are incomplete, the only quantitative statement I can make, based on the summary provided by Reeves *et al.* (2001), is that Yankee whalers, captured at least 25 whales, during at least nine whaling voyages. There was very little, if any, interaction between the whaling crews and Venezuelans. Therefore, there is no evidence that they ever influenced any marine mammal exploitation practice in Venezuela. Further, the presence of Yankee whaling ships created some stir in the local press, because the locals saw this operation as a breach of their national sovereignty (Romero et al 1997 and references therein).

Yankee Whaling in the Caribbean Basin: Its Impact in a Historical Context 229

First we need to recognize that Yankee whalers shifted both whaling grounds and species targets as resourses became scarcer in different geographic areas. Romero and Kannada (2006), using historical catch records, report that populations of bowhead (*Balaena mysticetus*) and right whales (*Eubalaena glacialis*) in the North Atlantic became severely depleted by the 19th century. This depletion caused Yankee whalers to seek new hunting grounds in the Caribbean. Yet that happened shortly after substitute products such as kerosene and mineral oil became available in the market making. As a consequence the demand for whale oil declined as soon as subsurface mineral oil was discovered at Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859 (Coleman 1995). Although there was again an increase in the price of whale oil during the American Civil War

The Yankee whale oil industry responded by trying to lower their production costs that were becoming higher as their vessels had to navigate to more difficult grounds. To that end they tried to make their operations more efficient by improving whaling technology with the introduction of the exploding harpoon head in 1864 and by reducing labor costs by hiring more and more crews from countries in the Caribbean Basin, particularly Englishspeaking ones. By this time, whalers were earning one-third to one-half of what merchant

Thus a combination of the depletion of whale stocks in the historical whaling grounds of the North Atlantic together with lower labor costs by hiring natives from the West Indies shifted Yankee whaling activities to the Caribbean basin (and later to Artic and Antarctic waters). As Brandt (1940, p. 54) put it "Slowly the crews had to be composed more and more

These circumstances increased interaction between Yankee whalers and West Indies locals, which led to both technology transfer to the countries they were recruiting crews and depletion of local populations of whales, particularly humpbacks. Yet, the cultural influence of Yankee whalers on that part of the world was uneven. The large number of voyages to Barbados and Bermuda may be due not only to the presence of whales in those waters, but also because (1) Barbados is the first island a ship traveling from the east Atlantic encounters when sailing with the aid of the trade winds and (2) Bermuda is the only island between the North American

Yet, by the time Yankee whalers initiated a significant activity in the Caribbean Basin, two localities –both under British sovereignty at that time: Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago has already developed a local shore whaling industry: Bermuda in 1663 (Romero 2006) and Trinidad in the 1820's (Romero et al., 2002). This contradicts the generalization made by Caldwell & Caldwell (1971) that Yankee whalers directly influenced shore whaling in the

Yankee whaling activity in Trinidad and Tobago have been summarized elsewhere (Reeves *et al.*, 2001, Reeves and Smith, 2002). All available data indicate that there was never much interaction between Yankee and the already established shore whaling industry of Trinidad. Yankee whaling in the area did not start until the 1830s, when Trinidadian shore whaling was already in full swing. In fact, the owners of one of the whaling stations in Trinidad asked the Governor of the Island to refuse authorization for the American Schooner

of halfcastes from all parts of the West Indies and of Central and South America."

continent and other whaling grounds in the eastern Caribbean such and Cape Verde.

(1861-1865) due to increased demand, whale oil prices declined severely after that.

seamen earned and one-fifth of a shore laborer (Coleman 1995).

Caribbean.
